Scrappy Goodness and a Freaky Friday!

Ok, this post might actually be short since my left index finger is numb.  I have no idea why. I think I must have slept funny the other night and pinched a nerve somewhere.  It makes it very annoying to type!

Here is the third LO that I did at the crop last weekend.  It was for last weeks Wednesday night sketch challenge at Paws.  Tina provided a great sketch!

I also took part in a one hour Just Add Scraps challenge at Treasured Scrapbooking this afternoon.  We were divided into two teams and the team to have the most people finish the sketch in an hour won.  My team didn't win, but we all came out ahead with great layouts and a fun time!  It was a nice way to use up some of those scraps I've had lying around and get a picture I've been meaning to scrap into an album (or at least, into my stack of layouts :)).

Ok, picture that LO with the letters straightened and the journaling finished :)  Like I said, it was a one hour challenge and I'm a slow scrapper so I was working my butt off to get it finished enough to post!

So, let me tell you about my Friday.  Sigh...this may be too long of a story to post, but here goes. First off, in the morning after I dropped Riley off at preschool the other kids and I went to get groceries.  When we got home Bridget was alseep in the car so I parked by the window where I could see her.  This also happens to be the one spot on our driveway that still has ice left.  I unloaded a couple bags of groceries and was carrying them in and didn't I fall on our one patch of ice, HARD.  Kieran very helpfully told me that I should be careful on the ice :)  I pulled all the muscles on in my hip/groin area and was in pain walking the rest of the day.

Then I decide, that since we are having supper with Kevin's family, I should make dessert to take with me.  Both of his sisters gave up chocolate for Lent, so I was trying to come up with something chocolate free, easy and with what little ingredients I had.  Just so happens we have many bags of microwave popcorn so I came up with popcorn balls! Yes, those are fun, the kids will love them! I will be the best mom/aunt ever.  WRONG (to quote Riley).  I decided to double the recipe so I ended up popping 6 or 7 bags of popcorn, some of which only half popped for some reason, while trying to cook the syrup (which I had to modify slightly because I didn't have enough icing sugar...probably why they are way too chewy).  So, in the end in my kitchen I had 3 huge bowls of popcorn and one very large pot of syrup.  I pour they syrup into all the bowls and start mixing.  Now, during all of this I'm trying to get the boys to clean the playroom downstairs and keep a baby happy in my kitchen.  One of the doors is off our under the sink area from when Kevin installed our new dishwasher.  With all the renovations to the kitchen (which have been at a standstill since the floor) it just hasn't gotten put back on.  We keep all of our cleaners up in our closet anyway so the only thing under there in any type of cleaning capacity is our dishwasher soap and our kids are never in there alone.  OK, so I'm in the kitchen in the midst of sticky popcorn trying to keep B happy.  She plays with a spoon an empty pop bottle, whining occasionally because she wants to be picked up (hard to do with sticky popcorn).  At one point she is in the tub of diswasher tabs so I take them away from her and put them out of reach.  She continues to cry throughout the rest of the popcorn ball fiasco.  I'm trying to shape balls with sticky syrup all over them and run to the sink several time for fear of getting second degree burns (can you tell I am NEVER making these again).  Finally, it's over, they're made!  I fill up the dishwasher and go to turn it on.  Well, the tab I pull out of the bucket is broken open and the little ball that is in the centre is missing!!!!!  Naturally, I assume Bridget ate it.  I couldn't find it anywhere.  I freak out.  I don't know the number for poison control off hand so I call 911.  I tell him where we are and what happened.  He asks if I want poison control. Ummm...hello? You're 911, you tell me!!! Anyway, I say yes.  I tell her everything, she goes to look up that type of soap and says something about it being an irritant/corrosive and to take B to the ER.  So, of course, I am very upset.  I call Kevin, tell him to call his sister because I'm dropping the boys off and rush to the ER.  B has been crying pretty much the whole time and all I can imagine is her insides being eaten away.  

Now, the good thing about sobbing your way into the ER with a baby is that everyone lets you go first.  In triage, the nurse came out to ask who was next and everyone just pointed to me though I was there last! So, first in triage, first out back to be seen...it was all very efficient (though I'm sure that everyone in the waiting room was cursing us!).  She was happy as a clam as soon as we got to the hospital.  Kevin thought that maybe she didn't even eat it because sometimes at the bottom of the bucket those things are all broken anyway.  And the doctor said that even if she had it would just pass through her system...she might have some bubbles, haha.  All ended well, but man I was scared!

Then, guess what I found on our counter today....the powerball from the tab.  I have no idea how it got there...it was under some stuff and so far from where she had been on the floor that I have no clue how it could have gotten so far.  It was only part of the ball, but the rest could easily have been broken in the bucket.  I'm pretty sure now that there's no way she ate any of it.   I really thought my first trip to the ER would have been with a boy....

So, today was much more relaxing with a trip to the Teddy Bear Fair (thanks for the extra hands, Nana).  The boys had their animals all fixed up with casts, saw a police car and a fire truck, magic show and lots of other fun booths.  We also had a turkey supper at church so now supper prep/cleaning for us!  We have a movie to watch now, so a good day overall!  I don't need any more drama this weekend!! 

Ok, that wasn't short at all...turns out I got used to the numb finger, lol!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Some fun stories and new layouts

I've been saving up some funny stories from the kids for the my next blog post, so here they are :) 

On Sunday, for some reason, the kids were talking about things that were bigger than Daddy.  I think it all started because Kevin took the biggest piece of pizza for lunch and Riley complained because Daddy always takes the biggest piece (Riley has the second largest appetite in our house). So, the things that they came up with that were bigger than Daddy were a volcano and a BIG giant (not just your everyday average old giant).  

Also on Sunday we were driving to Nana's house.  Now, we've had the conversation with Riley many times about how the moon doesn't really move, it just looks like it's moving because we're moving in the car.  So, Kevin says to Riley on our drive to Nana's, "see how it looks like the buildings are moving, because we're moving, but they aren't really moving, right?" And Riley agrees, that no, houses don't move.  Kevin proceeds to tell him that it's the same thing with the moon...it just looks like it's moving because we are.  There's silence in the backseat for a few seconds while Riley processes...then he blurts out, "WRONG!" Haha!  He says, "you guys don't watch the moon, I watch the moon so I know that it moves!"  Sigh...that kid cracks me up!

You know that we live in an age where our lives are ruled by media.  Today the kids were playing pretend...dragons, knights and such.  I told Riley that he had to go and get dressed.  He says to Kieran, "pause the game!" Heehee!  And then I hear Kieran yell, "PAUSE!" Oh my...and we don't even watch that many movies!

Notice how all my funny stories are about Riley? LOL!  Maybe once Kieran becomes more understandable I'll have more about him.  I'm trying to think of one involving me, but I can't.  Oh...I have one, haha.  Kieran loves sports so I've been trying to get him playing some of the Wii sports games.  Well, with bowling he just couldn't get the hang of it.  He'd do it right for a couple of frames and then start letting go of the button too early and dropping the ball.  We were both frustrated.  Kevin somehow managed to get him to hold the button in, but for some reason he couldn't hold the button and swing his arm at the same time.  So, if Kevin swung his arm for him, he could keep the button pushed in until it was time to let go of the ball, but he couldn't do both on his own.  When we were playing Wii at Nana's we discovered that if he uses his other arm to hold his remote arm and swing his own arm (just like Kevin would have done for him) he can do it, but he can't do both with one arm.  He's looks so ridiculous doing it, but it seems to work!  You probably have to see him in action to get the story (especially if you don't own a Wii).  Sorry if this makes no sense, but at least it's documented somewhere for me to laugh at later :)

One more with Riley.  Sometimes Riley gets a mental block on a word.  Like granola...he insists on calling it vanilla.  He just can't seem to get it.  The other day he was pretending he was a chameleon (not sure how this started).  Well, that kid could just not remember what it was called.  He'd play for awhile and then want to play again later and say, "Mommy, what's that animal that changes colours?" This happened several times until I finally said, "no, Riley, you tell me."  He says, "a leprechaun?" Seriously?? And he was, serious that is.  He has a block.  Finally, Kieran started telling him it was a chameleon.  Haha. I think he finally has it now :)  Still calls granola vanilla though!

Bridget continues to develop by leaps and bounds.  She's saying cat now and she stacked a couple of blocks the other day.  She's constantly wanting to run (or...crawl really fast :)) after her brothers.  She and Kieran are always hugging each other (this is REALLY cute!).  

I haven't taken many pics since the birthday party.  Since all the stories are about Riley how about a couple of cute pics of B and K...

My cuties in their new sunglasses :)  There are some perks to grocery shopping with mommy!  Bridget grins like that everytime I put her shades on her!

I went to a crop on Saturday.  Poor Daddy was home alone from 1:30-9:30.  He did have some company for awhile, but he did the bedtime routine alone which is always a challenge.  Thanks again!! I had a great time with the girls from Paws and I got a record 3 LOs done (I'm a very slow scrapper so 3 LOs in 8 hours is good for me...especially once you account for the chatting/eating time!).  Here are a couple I can share now...

Bridget eating her first piece of b-day cake.  She wasn't that into it since she was sick with a fever, but she did enjoy the icing :)

I think this one is my fave.  I just love the picture of Bridget's feet and the colours of the LO.  

The other layout is for the Paws sketch DT reveal tomorrow so I can't show it just yet.  It's also of Bridget.  I did take pics of the boys to scrap but left all my boy papers at home.  I have way more girl papers.  I know I have two boys and one girl, but let's face it, girl papers and embellishments are just way more fun :)

Ok, that's it for now.  Thanks if you stayed with me this long.  

Birthday party and a doctor's appointment

Well, we made it through the birthday party!  Bridget managed to shake her fever just in time so she was feeling well on Sunday.  Mommy was exhausted, but what else is new.  I was up at 7am working on the cake and it took me the better part of the morning.  It was worth it though.  The house was it's usual chaos when the family all came over and I think the older cousins were disappointed that I didn't have any games or treatbags planned for my one year old's birthday party, haha.  They seemed happy enough with cake though :)

Well, what's a blog post without pics.  I know you are all looking for those sweet faces :)

The birthday girl with her first spatula covered in icing.  Ok...Mommy needed quiet to finish the cake :)

The cake...obviously.

Again.

Bridget looking slightly confused :)

The cousins not so patiently waiting for cake.  Only one plastic spoon was broken in this display...guess who's....

Ahhh, Daddy's girl, double-fisting her cake :)

Bridget had her one year doctor's appointment this afternoon.  Both the receptionist and the doctor commented on Bridget's quirk of trying not to smile at you when you talk to her.  They both said, "It seems like she's trying not to smile."  Yupper...that's exactly what she's doing. She's been doing it for months now.  It really is the funniest thing.  And she is so determined to not smile...she can really hold out for a while.  Never seen a baby do it before.  Such a tease!

Anyway, Bridget is now 23lbs and 76cm.  I'm not sure where that exactly falls on a size chart but I'd say she's a pretty big girl :)  She had 3 shots and cried a bit (unlike the boys who almost never said boo), but she wasn't too bad.  She seemed fine at bedtime so no problems yet.  Let's hope for a good night!

Where did the year go?

So, Bridget will be one tomorrow!  It's so hard to believe that it's been a whole year.  That one short year ago I didn't know this wonderful, happy, gorgeous soul.  She just brings so much joy to all of our lives!  Of course Mommy and Daddy love her, but her brothers just adore her as well. They love going to get her in the morning and playing with her on the floor.  I guess she's just a lot more fun for them to interact with now that she's a bit older.  Sadly, she's been fighting a fever since last night so she may not be in the best spirits tomorrow.  We'll see how the cake thing goes over :) And hopefully we'll get a bit of sleep tonight, she was up a lot last night!  We're not doing a party until Sunday so hopefully she'll at least be better by then! (Stay tuned for pics of another fun cake :)...I love cake time).

Another cute pic from our photo shoot :)  "Seriously, Mom, the bunny and I are SICK of all these pictures!" Heehee.

Here's one of the LOs that I did for ScrapLovers.  I was a guest designer for February, but actually didn't get my kit until the end of the month so my LOs are a bit delayed.  It was a really nice kit though filled with fun new papers from My Mind's Eye.

Ok, one more pic... :)

Photo shoot

I decided to try to get some pics of the kids yesterday.  I plan to get some printed and framed since we have no new pictures in frames around the house at all.  I got a lot of great pics, but no good ones of the three of them together unfortunately.  If I'm feeling brave I may try again today, but it would be a bit harder with Kevin at work.  Anyway, here are some of the pics :) 

There are a lot more too, but maybe I'll save a few for another day.  They're so sweet you need to only see them in small doses ;)

Some of the cousins were over yesterday and the kids spent over an hour playing in the snow.  I guess the adults were playing too, except for Bridget and me since she isn't a big fan of the snow yet.  It was so mild though that I did take her out for awhile to get some fresh air.  Apparently Kevin face planted himself into a snow bank on one of his trips down the hill on the sled.  I didn't see it, but everyone assures me it was quite funny (even Kevin).  I think he also sprained his finger on that trip down :)  Thankfully, the kids were all unharmed!

Our kitchen floor is now done! Yay!! Thanks Dad for all your help.  Kevin and Dad managed to finish it Saturday by early afternoon. Now we just need to prep the walls a bit more and paint.  It sure will be nice when it's all done :)

Riley is back to school today after March break so Kieran and Bridget and I are just hanging out watching Sid the Science Kid.  This is a great show on PBS...very educational and fun!  Although, this is an episode we've seen about 10 times, but kids never seem to care about that!  I have mountains of laundry to do so I better get going!! Have a great Monday :)

March Break

I know that Riley only has preschool 3 days a week in the morning, but it really does give us something to do.  It's hard to fill the week with them home all day everday....I can only imagine that will be more difficult once they're in school.  We haven't been doing too badly though.  Monday we played with the cousins.  Tuesday Riley had a sleep over with Grammie and Grampie.  I had to do a lot of bribing to get Kieran to stay home AND not cry (last time he tried a sleep over he came home at 2 in the morning...didn't really feel like reliving that).  So, K and I watched a movie and he got to have chicken nuggets and fries for supper.  Wednesday we went to Grammie and Grampie's for breakfast (yet another part of K's bribe, but also something for us to do :)).  That afternoon I took the boys to the Tales of Despereaux which was playing for a toonie.  They were really good and had fun.  K was afraid of some parts, but he still did well and no one woke up screaming last night.  Today we had a playdate with a girl that R goes to preschool with and her two sisters.  Mostly because us moms are friends, but the kids seemed to have fun too :)  Riley and this girl don't play much at school, but they seem to do well on a playdate so it's all good.  He does want to have his two best friends over next week though :)  

So, it's already Thursday afternoon.  I think we'll make it to the weekend.  I'm currently obsessed with the third Twilight book so I haven't been getting much scrapping done.  Here's a page though that I did for the Paws DT.  I think it's a bit crooked, but I'm trying to ignore that, lol, since I'm not going to rip it apart.  

This is a picture that Riley had taken with his Little Tikes camera.  Not too bad for a 3 year old (he took it last summer I think).  

Can you believe that Bridget will be one in a week and a day?? I can't!! Where did the year go.  I remember how at 3 months, when the baby is up a lot and nursing all day you feel like this moment will NEVER come and here it is already.  She's now pulling herself up with ease, though she still doesn't walk along things.  She moves her upper body but won't move her feet :)  She says and shakes her head "no" to every question.  She says "ha, ha, haaaa" (that is new within the last couple of days).  She has 8 teeth.  She still mostly army crawls though she does get up on all fours for a few paces.  She's been a pretty good sleeper lately either getting up once through the night or sleeping until 5 or 5:30.  This morning she was up at 5 , but I did get her to go back to sleep until 7.  She is just such a sweet, funny little girl.  So content most of the time.  And you can totally tell that she wants to chase her brothers...won't be long I'm sure!

Riley is doing pretty well.  Some typical four year old craziness and battles with Mommy, heehee, but he is a good, kind, smart boy.  He's excited for big school in the fall.  He plays the computer and the Wii almost as well as I do (funny how quickly they pick those things up).  We just finished reading Charlotte's Web (yes, try to explain to a four year old boy why Mommy is crying at the end...he didn't really seem to get it, lol).  Kieran seems to be more empathatic than Riley, maybe he'll get it :).  We've now moved on to Stuart Little.  I actually don't know that story at all so it's fun for me too.  

Riley loves playing pretend.  I think here we were playing castle with the Mega blocks :)

Kieran is such a big boy now.  I already think of him as 3 though he won't be until May.  I'd say he probably knows about half of his letters.  I'll have to do numbers with him today because I'm not sure how many of those he knows to see.  He loves to read stories and he loves to give hugs and snuggles (even more so recently for some reason).  He's a great big brother to Bridget, always doing things for her and helping me.  And of course, she is one of his favourite people to hug.  I must say, that for 2 he's a pretty good colourer and he likes to draw and paint.  And of couse, he loves stickers...oh the stickers I find everywhere :)  He's such a cute, kind hearted boy.

Ok, so the pictures aren't stellar, but it's hard to get pics of my kids.  Especially B now that she just wants to crawl after the camera and eat it! :)

Well, off to check a few things off my "to-do" list and try to avoid my book (though it's calling to me, heehee).  Have a great day!!

BUSY weekend and fun blog give-aways!

We have had such a go, go, go weekend!  Yesterday we went bowling with the cousins.  So cute!  The kids had a lot of fun, even though Riley had to stop early because he wouldn't stop lobbing the ball (shocking, I know).  Then it was home for a quick lunch and back out to a birthday party with Riley.  He had fun even though it was mostly girls (there are a lot of girls in his class at preschool).  It was a horse theme so pretty gender neutral that way.   Then we were back home to pick up the rest of the family and off to mom and dad's for supper.  My cousins were down visiting from Fredericton which is always nice. Riley especially loves seeing them.  Then back home to get the kids to bed and finish my last LO for the contest at Treasured Scrapbooking.  It's not my fave, but it was too late to do a new one!  Oh well, I really love the other three so it's all good!

Today I took the kids back down to mom and dad's so Kevin could do some work on the kitchen.  It's a very slow process!  The kids had fun with my cousins again and we all ate a second breakfast (sorry Daddy missed out.  He has now instituted a rule that no one eats bacon without Daddy!!).  I told him at least he had peace and quiet.  Then we came and picked Daddy up so we could all go get groceries (always an adventure with three kids, but thankfully they were pretty well behaved).  Then home for a bit of cleaning and getting supper ready.  The cousins were over for supper so the house was chaos, but I guess that's just the way we roll now :)  Now, after much crying on Bridget's part, all the kids are asleep.  Aahh...peace.

For all you scrappers out there you must check out Tracey's blog for some awesome blog candy!  There's a giveaway sponsored by Paws On Scrapbooking and you could have a great chance to win one of Tracey's GORGEOUS kits! Fun, fun stuff!

Tanya also has a RAK up for grabs on her blog.  Warning, there are strings attached, haha.  She didn't tell me about the strings.  But don't worry, they're fun strings!!! Check it out! 

This may shock most of you, but I think that's all I have to say, LOL!  I'm too exhausted to think of anything else.  Hmm...let me see if I can dig up some cute pics.... Umm...sadly I don't.  Wow.  I really need to take more pictures of my kids.  Seems like my hands are always full though.  And I suppose, they have been pretty sick lately.  Ok...you are all my witnesses....I will take more pictures this week!!